Greece Is The Word: A Gander At Greek Figure Skating History

Ice rink in The National Gardens Of Athens, Christmas 2005. Photo courtesy Robert Wallace.

"Old things become new with the passage of time." - Nicostratus

Known for its hot summers and mild winters, Greece was home to one of the oldest civilizations in Europe. The ancient Greeks were renowned for their advances in art, science and culture more than two thousand years ago. It was also in Greece that the Olympic movement was born.

Owing to Greece's climate, ice skating didn't catch on in the same way it did in other European countries. Though there were ice factories in Athens, Salonika, Patras, Corfu, Cephalonia, Missolonghi, Zante (Zakynthos), Volo, Tripoli, Kalamata, Syra and Larissa during The Great War, they only operated for about half the year and mainly served the purpose of manufacturing ice to cool beer and pack sherbets.

Before the first ice rink in Greece was even built, the country had already made inroads into the figure skating world. Jimmy Demogines, the 1969 U.S. Junior Silver Medallist, earned the nickname "Zorba The Greek" because of his family background. Britons Diane Towler and Bernard Ford performed an Sirtaki-inspired free dance to great effect, winning no less than four World titles during the sixties. 

"Fantasy On Ice", a smaller-scale touring production starring Simone Grigorescu and Lenel and Kirk van den Berg, made its way to Greece in 1985. The show was set under a tent, in a white marble amphitheatre in the port city of Piraeus, near Attica overlooking the Acropolis. Both Toller Cranston and Robin Cousins had (as it turned out, luckily) turned down starring roles in the production. Not long after arriving, the event's promoter bolted for an airport with the money, leaving the skaters stranded. The city denied the organizers access to the rink, and the ice rink and set were kept under lock and key for weeks. 

Coincidentally, The Stadio Eirinis kai Filias (Peace and Friendship Stadium) in Piraeus was the first big Greek stadium to install an ice rink. It also opened in 1985 and was designed by the architectural firm Thymios Papagiannis and Associates. The Stadium hosted the first Greek Ice Hockey Championship in 1989. By the early nineties, the skating rink fell by the wayside as the Stadium was needed for other sports like basketball and track and field. As is often the case, when one rink closes, another one opens, and Greece was actually fortunate enough to have two ice rinks until 2001 when the rink in Moschato closed its doors. Two years later, the second rink in Athens was demolished and Greek skaters found themselves rinkless. While many skaters trained abroad, others had to put their skates on a shelf. Things were so dire in 2008 that a group of skaters from Marousi were training for the National Championships in a temporary rink covered by a tent in a parking lot. The situation has improved somewhat today, with rinks operating in both Athens and Oraiokastro, Thessaloniki.

For many years, skating in Greece was governed by the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation, which was founded in June 1986. It became a provisional ISU member in 1987 and a full member in 1991. In October 2011, long-time President and founder of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation Christos Chatziathanassiou died suddenly. At the time of his death, a representative from the [Pegasus Kypseli] Athletic Club stated, "He left with the big complaint of the state's long-standing unjust behavior towards the Hellenic Ice Skating Federation and its activities, yet thanks to his great personal love for ice skating and his great personal sacrifices he was able to keep up the bar in the activities of the Federation, having of course the support of his faithful associates. It is a characteristic fact that the State has had a negative impact on its financial contribution to the Federation's sporting activities, such as the Pan-Hellenic Championships, National Teams, etc., which caused it a great deal of sadness." It was later claimed that the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation operated illegally for many years, mismanaging approximately three million dollars in state subsidies. The ISU dropped Greece like a hot potato for a time, before allowing the Hellenic Winter Sports Federation, Greece's reworked governing body for figure and speed skating, curling, ice hockey, skiing, luge, bobsled and skeleton to (re)join in 2015.

As for Greek coaches, there are a few important names to note. Katerina Papafotiou won the Greek women's title three consecutive times in the early nineties. She went on to serve as the National Coach of the Hellenic Ice Sports Federation for many years. Her coach was World Champion Vladimir Kovalev, who for many years worked with Greek skaters. Fellow Soviet Olympians Nina Zhuk and Konstantin Kokora also worked with Greek skaters.

Greece's first representative at the World Junior Championships was Vasya Houpis, who placed second to last in 1990. At the 1992 World Championships in Oakland, Elaine Asanakis and Mark Naylor made history as Greece's first entry at a senior ISU Championship. Naylor grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania; Asanakis in Brooklyn, New York. Asanakis and Naylor trained at the University Of Delaware under Ron Ludington. Asanakis, the daughter of Greek immigrants, later represented Greece internationally with Joel McKeever and Alcuin Schulten. Interestingly, she and McKeever had once competed internationally together as fours skaters, representing America but skating with different partners. Unfortunately, Asanakis and McKeever failed to qualify for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, missing a berth at the qualifying competition in Vienna the autumn prior by just two spots.

Panagiotis Markouizos

In Prague in 1993, Harris Haita made history as the first singles skater from Greece to compete at the World Championships. The following year in Japan, Lefki Terzaki became the first Greek woman to compete at Worlds. At the 1998 World Championships in Lausanne, Ubavka Novakovic-Kytinoy became the first Greek judge at a major ISU Championship. She went on to become involved as an official in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Athens' Panagiotis Markouizos was one of the first Greek skaters to perform more than one triple jump consistently. Georgina Papavasiliou was the first Greek singles skater to make it past the qualifying rounds at Worlds. Papavasiliou, who was born in Scotland but had ties to Corfu, finished twenty-ninth in 2002.

Christa-Elizabeth Goulakos and Eric Neumann-Aubichon. Photo courtesy J. Barry Mittan.

Zeus Issariotis, the son of a Toronto tavern owner who grew up in the Greek village of Isari, near Athens, took the silver at the 2005 Copenhagen Trophy - the first medal for a Greek man internationally. He trained at the Cricket Club for a time under Canadian Champion Sébastien Britten.

In 2007, Themistocles Leftheris became the first Greek American skater to win a senior medal at the U.S. Championships. The same year, Christa-Elizabeth Goulakos and Eric Neumann-Aubichon made history as the first Greek ice dancers to compete at Europeans and Worlds. They were both born in Canada but her family was from Greece. His former partner Alice Graham once skated with Andrew Poje. Goulakos and Neumann-Aubichon trained in Quebec with Chantal Lefebvre and Arseniy Markov. They weren't the only couple to represent Greece who didn't live there. From 2008 to 2010, pairs skaters Jessica Crenshaw and Chad Tsagris represented the country at the World Championships. She hailed from the United States; he from Canada. They were coached by Isabelle Brasseur and Rocky Marval.

Nikki Georgiadis, who represented Greece at the World Junior Championships with her fellow Canadian-born partner Graham Hockley, was the final torch bearer in Greece for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. She had the honour to lighting the cauldron at the historic marble Panathenaic Stadium in Athens before handing the Olympic Flame to the Canadian organizers of those Games.

Over the years, many touring ice shows including the Russian All Stars and Disney On Ice have entertained Greek audiences. In 2011 and 2012, ANT1 even aired a Greek version of Torvill and Dean's "Dancing On Ice" competition. Unfortunately, the series was an unprecedented flop, with complaints about everything from the low-budget production to the fact that none of the judges or host really had much of a skating background.

Anna Chatziathanassiou and Maria Mastrogiannopoulou. Photos courtesy J. Barry Mittan.

Though Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron represented France in international competition, Papadakis' father hails from Korydallos, a suburb of Athens. This, of course, makes Papadakis the first figure skater of Greek heritage to win both an Olympic medal and a World title.

The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, "Everything flows and nothing abides, everything gives way and nothing stays fixed." Though the history of Greek figure skating is relatively recent, who knows what the future will hold?

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.

The 1978 European Figure Skating Championships

Manuela Mager and Uwe Bewerstorff. Photo courtesy Eileen Mortimer.

"Out on an immaculate white area people moved with grace, amazing and strange to humans." - Robert D. Stevenson, Skating, April 1937

In early February 1978, the Alsatian border town of Strasbourg in northeastern France was absolutely the place to be if you were one of Europe's top figure skaters at that time. The 1978 European Figure Skating Championships, held on a temporary rink in the Rhine Hall, featured a virtual who's who of late seventies figure skating royalty. There were one hundred and two competitors in the first Europeans held in France in fourteen years. Notably absent in Strasbourg were the Soviet judges, banned from participating by an ISU ruling.

I thought it would be fun today to hop in the time machine and explore some of the stories that made this competition so particularly exciting. Change into your best spandex onesie and buckle up as we go back and look at the best and the rest from this event!

THE PAIRS COMPETITION

Considering that Irina Rodnina had stood atop the medal podium at the European Championships for nine consecutive years previous to this event, it was absolutely no surprise to anyone in Strasbourg when Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev dominated in the short program, easily beating East German pairs Manuela Mager and Uwe Bewersdorff and Sabine Baeß and Tassilo Thierbach.

Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev

As for the free skate, the February 2, 1978 issue of "The Globe And Mail" reported, "Olympic gold medalists Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev of the Soviet Union skated an artistic, crowd-pleasing program in the freestyle category yesterday to clinch their sixth consecutive European pairs crown. The experienced pair, also five times world champions, earned eight 5.9's and one 6.0 for artistic expression in a five-minute performance that combined technical skill, near-perfect synchronization and calm confidence. On the first night of the European championships Tuesday, the Soviet pair had clearly demonstrated their world supremacy. They scored the only 6.0 of the evening and eight 5.9s to lead clearly into last night's final performance. Rodnina and Zaitsev had nine ordinals and 148.54 points. Second place went to another Soviet couple, Marina Cherkasova and Sergei Shakhrai, with 22 ordinals and 141.74 points. In third place were the East Germans, Manuela Mager and Uwe Bewerstorff, with 23 ordinals and 142.08 points. Following their dazzling performance, the Soviet champions waited patiently by the rink for the results of their team-mates, then dashed off to their dressing room, smiling broadly but declining to comment on their victory." In winning ten European titles, Irina Rodnina beat the previous record of nine held by Ulrich Salchow. Marina Cherkasova and Sergei Shakrai's free skate featured clean side-by-side triple toe-loops - a first at an ISU Championship.

THE MEN'S COMPETITION

Defending World Champion Vladimir Kovalev dominated the school figures, 'outracing' East Germany's Jan Hoffmann, the Soviet Union's Igor Bobrin, East Germany's Mario Liebers and Great Britain's Robin Cousins, who placed a disappointing ninth on the first figure - the rocker. Twenty-year-old Cousins won the short program with a clean triple jump combination. He received a perfect 6.0 from one judge but remained behind Hoffmann, Kovalev and Bobrin. The leaders were only separated by one ordinal placing and thirty-two tenths of a point.

Robin Cousins. Photo courtesy Eileen Mortimer.

Although Vladimir Kovalev's convincing win in the compulsory figures all but assured him a place on the medal podium, Cousins was able to ultimately make up ground by winning the free skate and overcome Bobrin to win the bronze medal behind Hoffmann (who landed a triple Lutz in the free skate) and Kovalev, who celebrated his twenty-fifth birthday the day of the free skate. Cousins' effort earned him a spate of 5.9's and a 6.0 from the French judge for presentation. He won the free skating phase of the competition, landing two triple toe-loops, a triple Salchow and stepping out of a triple loop attempt.

In the book "Robin Cousins: Skating For Gold", Cousins recalled, "It was my first international championship quest since training under Carlo [Fassi] in Denver, and for the first time, I felt ready and eager well in advance. I had a rather nasty fall during one of the practices, but on the whole, the preparations went very smoothly... I did not concentrate on the first figure quite so much as I should have done. It was the left inside rocker and it went a little haywire. I did manage afterwards to put down two of my best figures - the paragraph double three and the change loop. But the judges had already awarded me bad marks for the first figure and were not going to make up much difference on the other two... In my own estimation, the long [program] was technically adequate, but the presentation I knew was better and I enjoyed it probably more than any I had previously performed. The audience and judges seemed to like it too."

THE ICE DANCE COMPETITION

Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay. Photo courtesy Eileen Mortimer.

Following the compulsory dances and the OSP, reigning European champions Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov of the Soviet Union led the pack with 12 ordinals and 120 points ahead of Hungary's Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay who had 22 ordinals and 98.50 points. In third were
Natalia Linichuk and Gennadi Karponosov with 23 ordinals and 98.50 points. Controversy swirled as the Hungarian team was allowed a reskate in their Paso Doble OSP when they fell because an alleged ridge of ice tripped them. They'd also fallen on a rut in the Kilian. As a result of these falls, the ISU later passed a rule to resurface the ice more frequently.

The February 4, 1978 issue of The Globe And Mail noted that in the free dance "Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov of the Soviet Union broke with their long-standing practice of skating to classical music and easily won their second consecutive European pairs dance crown last night. They were the second Soviet couple to win gold medals in the European figure skating championships, after five-time world champions Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev, who won the pairs competition Wednesday night. Moiseeva and Minenkov danced to specially-arranged extracts from West Side Story, apparently preparing themselves to use faster-paced tempos at the world championships in Ottawa next month. The Soviet pair had some trouble one minute into their dance when Minekov slipped and his knee fell to the ice. But they recovered and found their rhythm again to complete their four-minute performance with spirited footwork, ending by sliding 30 feet on their knees in front of the judges. They scored 11 ordinals and 206.40 points. Second place also went to a Soviet pair, Natalia Linichuk and Gennady Karponosov, who performed a series of new elements in finely timed quicksteps to win 128 ordinals and 204.10 points. Hungarians [Krisztina Regőczy and András Sallay] held on to third place with 26 ordinals and 201.58 points. World silver medallists Janet Thompson and [Warren] Maxwell were a disappointing fourth, despite an athletic dance to the tunes of 'Fiddler on the Roof. They scored 35 ordinals and 199.24 points."

Top: Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell. Photo courtesy "Canadian Skater" magazine. Bottom: Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov.

In March 1978's "Skating" magazine, Howard Bass complained that in Strasbourg "too many acrobatic and pair moves infiltrated the dance event and were not penalized. The rules state a recognizable code that is frequently disregarded so it is no wonder now that more than ever lay onlookers find it difficult to differentiate between ice dancing and pair skating. Furthering to our knowledge of this event, Lynn Copley-Graves in "Figure Skating History: The Evolution Of Dance On Ice" noted that "even with no Soviet judges in Strasbourg, France, Irina Moiseeva and Andrei Minenkov skated above everyone else, performing in their cool demeanor as if on a ballet stage. In beautiful costumes and displaying obvious illegalities, their free program had little difficulty until the end... Torvill/Dean, in their first Europeans, saw less and less of Janet Sawbridge who had married and stayed at a different hotel, and relied on Janet Thompson and Warren Maxwell, he with unending humor, to show them the ropes. Jayne and Chris were pleased to break into the top ten. They took note of all the competitors' habits, such as the way András Sallay seemed to kiss Krisztina Regőczy when they entered the ice." It was in Strasbourg in fact that Torvill and Dean first connected with none other than legendary coach Betty Callaway.

Christopher Dean later recalled, "We felt so small in the dazzling company. When we got to see Moiseeva and Minenkov on the ice for real, they were not only better than we had imagined, but they seemed so strong and powerful, and so big. Everybody seemed so much bigger than us, in fact, and if in many cases it was more imagined than real, in the case of Moiseeva and Minenkov it was a fact. Minenkov must have been over six feet, which is unusually tall for a skater, and his wife... was taller than average. She had to be, otherwise they would have looked unbalanced. As it was they looked fabulous, particularly Irina, beautiful and balletic, and I couldn't have conceived that anybody in the world, let alone us, would ever beat them. We were both quite bowled over by them. We'd heard Alan Weeks raving about them on the box so often. Now we really knew why."

THE WOMEN'S COMPETITION

After the short program, defending European Champion and World Silver Medallist Anett Pötzsch of East Germany led West Germany's Dagmar Lurz and Austria's Claudia Kristofics-Binder. In "Skating" magazine, sportswriter Howard Bass noted, "A too-low level of marks continued to be awarded for the figures in both solo events. The highest mark awarded in one of the men's figures was 4.1... This seems to falsify the relative merits of figures and free, making nonsense of their respective 30 and 70 percent ratios."

Elena Vodorezova, a disastrous eighth in figures, skated brilliantly to win the short program while Pötzsch floundered on two jumps - the triple Salchow and double loop, placing sixth in that segment. Susanna Driano moved up from fourth to third with a strong performance, and Claudia Kristofics-Binder dropped to sixth. Injury forced her to withdraw before the free skate.

Left: Astrid Jansen in de Wal. Photo courtesy Eileen Mortimer. Right: Denise Biellmann.

In the free skate, the real story of the day came from Switzerland's Denise Biellmann, who attempted a triple Lutz and landed it, albeit not cleanly. Her trademark Biellmann spin brought down the house and her gutsy effort earned her the distinction of being perhaps the first woman to earn a 6.0 for technical merit in a major international competition. The perfect mark was awarded by British judge Pauline Borrajo. Although she won the free skate, Biellmann's twelfth-place finish in figures kept her off the podium in fourth behind Pötzsch, Dagmar Lurz and Elena Vodorezova. Canadian-based Astrid in de Wal placed a disappointing seventeenth.

Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of the figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.